MLB News

'Miggy,' 'J-Up' power Tigers past White Sox

By
Fabian Ardaya and Jason BeckMLB.com

CHICAGO -- "J-Up" and "Miggy" went back-to-back off "Los" as the Detroit Tigers slugged their way past the Chicago White Sox, 6-3, at Guaranteed Rate Field and halted the South Siders' brief three-game winning streak on Saturday.

White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon, who went by "Los" for Players Weekend, looked human after a stretch of five consecutive quality starts against teams in postseason contention. Rodon, a pitcher with swing-and-miss stuff, did induce seven swinging strikes and four strikeouts in five frames. But the southpaw allowed seven hard-hit balls -- balls with exit velocity of 95 mph or greater -- including back-to-back homers from Justin Upton and Miguel Cabrera to give the Tigers the lead in the third.

CHICAGO -- "J-Up" and "Miggy" went back-to-back off "Los" as the Detroit Tigers slugged their way past the Chicago White Sox, 6-3, at Guaranteed Rate Field and halted the South Siders' brief three-game winning streak on Saturday.

White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon, who went by "Los" for Players Weekend, looked human after a stretch of five consecutive quality starts against teams in postseason contention. Rodon, a pitcher with swing-and-miss stuff, did induce seven swinging strikes and four strikeouts in five frames. But the southpaw allowed seven hard-hit balls -- balls with exit velocity of 95 mph or greater -- including back-to-back homers from Justin Upton and Miguel Cabrera to give the Tigers the lead in the third.

"The changeup was there to Miggy, he just made a good swing," Rodon said. "Good hitter. And then I think that was a 1-1 count to Justin, a fastball I was trying to get in a little more and he made me pay. I left it up."

Rodon, who adjusted his pregame warm-up by starting earlier to get his usual third-inning kick in velocity from the get-go, was unable to maintain any level of sharpness.

"Today, even after the third inning, we were looking for everything to get back up and [it] didn't quite get there today," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "So hopefully the routine he goes through in his next start will hopefully put him in a better place and we'll be able to see that spike in velocity and crispness that he shows after about three innings, which has been the last 4-5 outings, I think."

Tigers starter Buck Farmer, who struck out 11 in 6 1/3 shutout innings his last time at Guaranteed Rate Field, on May 27, allowed three runs on five hits in 5 2/3 frames Saturday. Farmer had "George" -- his birth name -- on the back of his jersey as he picked up his third win.

The White Sox runs off "George" came on a two-run blast by Yolmer Sanchez, otherwise known as "El del Pinonal," and an RBI double by Tim Anderson, who is honoring his late friend with "B. Moss" on the back of his jersey.

"He had pretty good control," Tigers bench coach Gene Lamont said of Farmer. "He controlled the outside corner pretty well, changed speeds. That's the second real good game he's pitched against these guys."

Shane Greene, rocking "Shaner," came in for his second five-out save in three days. He got a double play to get out of the eighth, and worked around an Omar Narvaez single and his own error for a scoreless ninth and his fifth save of the season.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDStumpfed: After Anderson's RBI double brought the go-ahead run to the plate and had the tying run in scoring position with a pair on in the sixth, the Tigers went to left-hander Daniel Stumpf to flip the switch-hitting Sanchez to bat from the right side of the plate -- where he's hitting .229 this season. "Donald" got Sanchez to strike out swinging on a high fastball to end the inning and keep it a 5-3 game.

"Greene got the big outs, but I thought that Stumpf and [Warwick] Saupold got awful big outs for us, too," Lamont said. "Stumpy came in and turned Sanchez around to the right side and struck him out, and then he got Narvaez out to lead the next inning off. Those are big outs, too."

Bootsie hits, steals: Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler, who is going by "Bootsie" during Player's Weekend, kept Detroit rolling after the back-to-back blasts. After Andrew Romine, known as "Robomb," doubled in the fourth, Kinsler brought him home with an RBI single past the glove of Anderson.

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDSSaturday marked the fourth time all season the Tigers had gone back-to-back with homers in a game. The last time Detroit accomplished the feat came on July 1, when J.D. Martinez and Cabrera homered consecutively in the first of a doubleheader against the Indians.

HE GONETigers manager Brad Ausmus earned his fifth ejection of the season and second in a span of three days during the fifth inning on Saturday. Ausmus appeared to be arguing with home plate umpire Nick Mahrley from the dugout during Victor Martinez's at-bat, at one point drawing Mahrley to take his mask off and exchange words with Ausmus. Mahrley then tossed Ausmus, sending the Tigers manager back to the clubhouse for arguing balls and strikes.

"Brad thought there was a pitch a little low," Lamont said. "He really didn't say a whole lot, but he kicked out. … I think, sometimes, the longer you go out there, the more money it's going to cost you. I think he did the right thing myself [by not going out on the field]."

WHAT'S NEXTTigers:Matthew Boyd (5-7, 6.24 ERA), aka "Matty B," gets the ball Sunday seeking his first win since July 29 as the series wraps up with a 2:10 p.m. ET matchup. Boyd has lost twice in as many starts in Chicago this year, yielding eight runs on 14 hits over seven total innings.

White Sox:Lucas Giolito (0-1, 6.00 ERA) takes the bump at 1:10 p.m. CT on Sunday to make his second career start in a White Sox uniform. He allowed three homers and four runs in six innings relying solely on his fastball last time out, and became the first White Sox pitcher since Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez to not walk a single batter in six or more innings in his club debut.